Learning to Code with Osmo Coding Starter Kit

14th September 2020 - By Sarah Burns

I wrote a little while back about Osmo and we are real fans of it here. We don’t give our children access to the tablet, so when we do give them access, we do we like to make sure that the things they’re interacting with are good quality. Osmo really is a great tool for our children so when the team got in touch to ask me if we would like to take a look at the Osmo Coding Starter Kit I knew it would be something that would be a hit with the children.

We have been playing with the kit for a couple of weeks now, so I thought I’d share our thoughts here.

What is Osmo?

Osmo is a set of games and accessories that turn your tablet into a really fun and interactive tool. These hands-on learning games see the children use a real-life physical object to interact with the digital screen of their iPad or Fire tablet.

What’s in the Coding Starter Kit?

The coding starter kit comes complete with base for the tablet as well as a storage tub with 31 coding blocks inside. Happily, the storage tubs are stackable which means as your Osmo collection grows, you can easily store the components without anything going astray.

The coding blocks are chunky and sturdy and perfect for children to use. The stands are slightly different, depending on whether you choose the iPad or Fire compatible set.

The Coding Starter Kit is aimed at ages 5-10 and there are three games that it uses. I would say the age guide is about right. H has attempted some of the games but they’re a little hard for him right now (he’s only four). Em and Daniel at six and (almost!) eight have managed it much better.

The three coding games are:

Coding Awbie – this teaches the basic concepts of coding
Coding Jam – more intermediate and creative coding
Coding Duo – Advanced coding concepts

Our Thoughts

I left the children to play the Coding Awbie game and they quickly got the hang of it and Daniel and Em have been steadily working their way through the levels. I like how it introduces the idea of commands in a really clear and fun way and the idea of getting Awbiefrom a – b through simple prompts is really good.

As you progress through the levels the complexity also changes. The children soon learnt that they could string together a series of commands rather than do than one at a time. I really like the way that the game works and the children enjoyed the character a lot.

They have started to delve a little into Coding Jam which uses the coding blocs to create fun music. This is a game that they’ve only really investigated a little right now and haven’t used anywhere near it’s potential.

You use the coding blocks in patterns and loops to create your own music. Children can save and share their creations (which mine enjoyed doing). I like the potential of this game as it shows that coding principles can be used in a creative and fun way and it gets them to think about rhythm and music too.

The final game, Coding Duo is one that I’ve looked at with Daniel for a short time. This is an advanced skills game so the children aren’t quite there as yet. This is a two-player game which sees on player code for Awbie and another for Mo (the furry monster seen in other Osmo games). By thinking collaboratively you can solve the puzzles. There is an option to play this as a solo player but I found the duo option to be a great way for Daniel to show and teach me a little about coding!

What I *really* like about Osmo is the progression element. I also like that I can opt into weekly emails that tell me what the children have been doing on Osmo, and how they’re been doing. I also like how easy it is to set them up their own Osmo account, so their own progress is recorded as they move through the games.

Osmo is really fun and engaging and the accessories are really good quality. I’ve seen some comments that people don’t like removing their tablets from cases, however, the stand that the tablet sits in is super secure and I don’t have any worries about the children using it at all. The technology is really clever and I can see we will get a lot of use from the coding starter kit over the coming years.